1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuel component for an explosive and a method for its production.
Furthermore, the invention relates to an explosive comprising an oxidizer and a fuel component, an explosive body as well as an explosion method.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR §§1.97 and 1.98
As explosive substances solid, liquid and gaseous substances or substance mixtures in a metastable state are known in the broadest sense that are capable of a quick chemical reaction without the addition of further reactants. Substances also belonging to this category are those that are not produced for the purpose of blasting or firing, such as e.g. fertilizers, gas-generating agents of the foam and plastic industry or various catalysts.
Explosives are a subgroup of explosive substances that are solid, liquid and gelatinous substances and substance mixtures produced for the purpose of blasting or propelling, see e.g. Köhler, J. and Meyer R. in “Explosivstoffe”, VCH Verlagsgesell-schaft mbH Weinheim 1995.
The triggering of an explosive reaction can be brought about by mechanical loads (impact), friction, thermal effect or by a detonation impact.
In the classical explosives that are commonly used in the military and civil sectors the reactants are in most cases present in a combined form, e.g. oxygen is present as a nitrate or a nitro-group.
Compared to the liquid-oxygen-explosive to be used and developed according to the invention the drawback is that in all classical explosives a part of the chemical-exothermal reaction energy has to be used to release the actual reactants “fuel” and/or “oxidizer” from their chemical additive bonds. As a result, the specific exothermal release of energy is lower as compared to liquid-oxygen-explosives.
Another drawback is that environmentally harmful substances develop or remain due to both the reactants themselves and explosives that have not been ignited.
In addition, the current legislation with regard to explosives (hazard caused by storage, transportation and supply of a machine system with explosives), protection of the environment and the danger of terroristic abuse stand in the way of a usage in accordance with the invention of classical explosives for the stripping of rock, as practiced in a similar manner by Louie with C4-explosives in 1973, see in William C. Mauer, “Advanced Drilling Techniques”, Petroleum Publishing Co., 1421 S. Sheridan, P.O. BOX 1260, Tulsa, Okla. 74101.
In the last few decades examinations have been carried out with regard to the aspect of non-contamination of the environment by environmentally harmful explosive components, such as e.g. nitrates. Among the explosives that meet these requirements are ranked e.g. nitrogen-free oxidizers, sodium perchlorate or special water-gel-emulsion explosives or also peroxidic and liquid oxygen-based explosives, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,030.
By the term liquid-air-explosives or liquid-oxygen-explosives various explosives have been known for about 100 years. These explosives are produced by soaking fuel such as wood or cork dust, peat litter, carbene and other substances in liquid oxygen. The first systematic scientific works in this field were carried out by the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin in the 1920s: see e.g. Zeitschrift für angewandte Chemie, 37. volume p. 973-992 dated 11 Dec. 1924 No. 50. Within the framework of these works substances such as carbene, soot, cork dust, peat dust and wood dust, cellulose and coal dust were examined.
The best reaction results were achieved with a mixture of carbene and liquid oxygen (LOX) through enclosure in a damming iron tube: approximately the detonation rate of guhr-dynamite, up to 5600 m/s. Having the summation formula C12H10 carbene results from the polymerization of acetylene (C2H2) on Cu-catalysts as a finely dispersed cork-like substance.
As of 1924 the use of carbene was considered for a long time to be the best solution for the application in LOX-based explosives. However, on the one hand carbene is expensive to produce and on the other hand the transformation only takes place as a detonating reaction if the LOX-carbene-mixture is enclosed in a fixed damming, e.g. in an iron tube.
As early as in 1924 tests showed that the LOX-based explosives belong to the richest energy type blasting agents and bring about great cost advantages.
The drawback in the liquid-oxygen-explosives known so far is that these explosives cannot be used in the sense of the invention because on the one hand they only transform in a detonating manner through sufficient damming and on the other hand their detonation rate is too low. If, for the purpose of rock stripping, explosive charges had to be enclosed e.g. in an iron casing, this would correspond to the use of military fragmentation grenades which is no longer permitted in the civil sector. Moreover, the quantity of material to be removed from the working face would be polluted with steel fragments and, not least, the economic efficiency of such a method would be poor.
Parallel to the works of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut explosive substance mixtures were described e.g. by P. E. Haynes in U.S. Pat. No. 1,508,185 that consist of a mixture of the oxidizer LOX or liquid ozone together with gases liquefied at temperatures below zero degrees centigrade such as CH4, C2H6, C3H8, C2H4, C3H6 or other similar substances and are furthermore added with absorbing substances. As sorbing substances inert or also combustible substances as for example wood powder, more particularly balsa wood powder, were employed. One of the purposes for this was to increase the time in which the explosive is ignitible, as both fuel and oxygen evaporate.
The drawback of using hydrocarbons as fuel, which are present in a liquid state at temperatures below zero degrees centigrade, lies in the handling that does not ensure a fine distribution of the components without further processing.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,629 the use of a charge configuration is known that provides liquid methane and LOX in separate containers which are then mixed by a conventional detonator blasting charge and induced to a proper detonating transformation.
Likewise, in U.S. 2003/0089434 A1 methods are described how liquid methane and oxygen can be combined to an explosive mixture.
In WO 92/07808 a cryogenic fuel is described that can be used for the application in propelling techniques for supersonic aircrafts below and above the water but can also be used as an explosive. Depending on the application various additional equipment is employed for the production of the combustible or explosive mixture and for the controlled initiation of the combusting or explosive transformation. Here the fuel main component is liquid hydrogen in a form or in the form of mixtures with solid substances and in addition methane, ethane, acetylene and others are added. As oxidizer use can be made of LOX, air, fluorine or other substances having an oxidizing effect.
However, in these methods of generating a LOX-explosive there is the drawback that, for the purpose of a rapid mixing, technologies of such kind would require complicated and expensive equipment in each explosive capsule.
The application of the liquid hydrogen technology for the utilization of the LOX-explosive in accordance with the method can be ruled out for safety and efficiency reasons.